Take a Sad Song and Make it Better
by falafel-fiction
Summary: Desmond and Penny's road trip to Carlisle. They pick up a hitchhiker.


**Summary**: Desmond and Penny's road trip to Carlisle. They pick up a hitchhiker.

**Characters**: Desmond, Penny and Charlie. Slight OT3.

**Rating**: PG-13

**Disclaimer**: Nope, I don't own Lost.

**Warnings**: Mild drug use.

* * *

Take a Sad Song and Make it Better

A few more miles along the road and Penny had kicked off her shoes, tucking her bare feet underneath her on the cushion of the passenger seat. Her window was rolled down, the wind stiring her honey blonde hair and fluttering the corners of the map she was holding in her lap. She had somehow convinced Desmond to drive, insisting that she was hopeless on these winding country roads and he shouldn't worry over her car insurance. He had only known the lass for one morning but already he was finding it hard to say no to her.

It was Penny's idea to pick up the hitchhiker. The blonde kid in the leather jacket and the checkered vans seemed harmless enough. When Penny noticed the guitar case on his back, she reasoned that they should stop for him, since her car radio was bust and she hadn't bothered to fix it yet.

The lad's name was Charlie. It seemed he was escaping from his old life too. He said he was running away from his rock-n-roll band. When Penny asked why he confessed that sex, drugs and partying had corrupted their musical intergrity. That and the fact that his brother was _'an utter wanker'_. He said that Carlisle suited him fine. Then he stretched out on the backseat, regaling them with sordid tales of his nights of booze and orgies. It was enough to make a monk blush. Penny laughed and shook her head, not taking Charlie too seriously, but still enjoying his company. Desmond remained silent. He was still conditioned to being quiet. Besides, he liked to listen to the strange music that Charlie's stories and Penny's laughter were making in the close air of the car.

After a few more turnings, Penny cheerful declared that they were lost. Desmond couldn't help wondering if that had been her plan all along. Charlie asked if they could stop for a toilet break. While he hurried over to the bushes, Penny opened the boot of the car and pointed Desmond to the wicker basket that was wedged between the wine crates. She smiled playfully, electing that they should have a picnic in the roadside field.

A grin broke over Charlie's face when he returned to them.

"You've found yourself one classy bird here," he commended Desmond as he riffled through the pallets of fresh strawberries, the wedges of brie and the bottles of ginger beer that filled Penny's hamper. "Don't let her go, mate..."

Desmond winced sheepishly. "Actually...we've only just met."

Charlie shrugged. "Well, the advice still stands."

Penny's eyes sparkled with mischief. She was threatening to wink every time Desmond met her stare. She leant back on her elbows, spooning a greek yogurt into her mouth. As the sun rose in the sky, Charlie shook off his leather jacket and took his guitar out of its case. He nervously strummed through a few of his own compositions at Penny's request. Desmond forced a smile onto his lips. The lad wasn't bad he supposed, but this really wasn't his sort of music. Not knowing what else to say in the gap between songs Desmond gestured to the tattoo on his arm.

"Strawberry Fields Forever...am I right, brother?"

Charlie smirked, taking the hint and launching into a medley of Beatles songs. Everyone loves The Beatles. Penny had a good voice and she knew all the words to 'Hey Jude'_._ She sang the verses for them while Charlie and Desmond chorused the _Na, na, na, nanana nas_. They let her under their skin...and she made it better.

Charlie's eyes caught a glimpse of the red telephone box at the end of the hedgerows. He asked Penny for twenty pence so that he could call his brother, because he didn't want to worry him. Whilst Charlie was gone, Penny turned to Desmond and asked what he was going to do next, now he had been fired from the abbey.

Desmond shrugged. "I can't say I've planned that far ahead, sister..."

Penny narrowed her eyes. "Tell me what you'd like to do. Right now. The first thing that pops into your head..."

Desmond chuckled nervously, watching the fall of her golden hair against the shadow of her neck and deciding he better not answer her question _too_ honestly.

"I don't know..." he mused. "I'm afraid I didn't have a particular talent for anything in my school days. Well...apart from a little English Literature maybe. I had a bit of an affinity for Mr Dickens and old Will Shakespeare. Hey, what do you think? Can you see me treading the boards?"

Penny's eyes widened. "I have a friend who's an artistic director for the RSC. We could get you a foot in the door!"

Desmond had only been joking, but Penny's tone was absolutely serious. The lass was a dream.

"Well...I don't know about the acting," he stammered. "I think I'd be better suited to behind the scenes work."

Penny pursed her lips. "After we've dropped off these crates, we're making a trip to Stratford."

When Charlie returned to their picnic blanket, he didn't tell them about his phone call. He silently took a silver cube from his jeans pocket and unrolled it to reveal a small brick of weed. _Just weed_, he told them, not the dangerous stuff that his idiot brother was into. He rolled them a joint, sparked it up and passed it around their circle. Desmond felt the monastry slipping further behind him as he inhaled deep into his lungs. It looked like they were making camp here for the day.

"Would you like some blowback?" Charlie asked Penny. "You know...a shotgun?"

Penny laughed. "I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about, but I'll try anything once."

Charlie's smile lengthened as he instructed Penny to close her eyes. He took a long drag on the joint, then cupped his hand to the back of her head, pressing his mouth very gently over hers and then blowing. Desmond felt his pulse quicken as a thin wisp of smoke curled from the corners of their lips. It was like a small firework had gone off their mouths. He thought it was the most alluring kiss he had ever witnessed.

Penny blinked her eyes, surfacing for air and then flopping back on the grass, laughing and nodding in approval. Desmond laughed too, shaking his head wonderingly. Charlie raised his eyebrows.

"You want some too, mate?" he asked coquettishly.

Desmond raised his hand to decline, but Penny was already tugging at his shirt, her blue eyes twinkling as she insisted that he tried it. Again he found that he could not refuse her. Well, it looked like his days as a man of the cloth were well and truly behind him. Charlie shuffled forwards on his knees, sucking in another long drag from the joint. Desmond's head was lowered in embarrassment until Charlie clasped his chin, tilting his jaw upright. Desmond felt the surprisingly soft brush of his lips before the hot potent smoke surged into the back of his throat. He fell back wheezing and spluttering, his breath taken away by the musician's heady kiss. Charlie sat back on his heels, giggling his head off. Penny lay watching them, her cheeks flushing red and her fingertips pressed to her mouth.

As the light faded around them, they lay on their backs in the long grass watching the clouds change shape. They ended up talking about Shakespeare again. Penny was already planning their trip down to Stratford upon Avon while Desmond was attempting to explain the plot of 'A Midsummer Nights Dream' to Charlie who said that he had never really understood _'all that poncy language'_ when he studied it in school. Time seemed to melt away from the world.

Just as it was growing dark and Desmond was offering to get some blankets out of the car, a black van pulled up beside the field. A tall young man with spiky brown hair climbed out, waving his arms and ranting at the top of his voice. Charlie hissed to them that this was his brother, Liam. He rushed up to his angry sibling and hugged him around the chest, tucking his head under his chin. Liam's fury was easily quelled. He whispered something into his little brother's ear. Charlie nodded and then returned to Desmond and Penny, quickly shaking their hands.

"Give us a call sometime, yeah?" he chirped. "I'll get you free entry to our next gig."

With that, Charlie scurried back to his brother. Liam slung an arm around his shoulder as they climbed into the van and then disappeared down the country road, music blasting from their stereo.

"He didn't leave his number..." Penny remarked with a yawn as she snuggled closer to Desmond's shoulder.

It didn't seem to matter too much at that moment. The rockstar fairy had already woven his spell around them. He had sprinkled them with his pixie dust. He had anointed their eyes and he had led them into the evening's mists. Now they lay side by side, their bodies uncoiling and their tongues growing idle. Slowly the stars began to glimmer at them, almost expectantly, as they turned their heads to meet each other's stares.

Their mouths came together in the veiling shadows.

No smoke this time...only fire.

_The End_.


End file.
